Linxia

Chapter 131, Printing

In the next few days, Fang Lin made final preparations.

Regarding the printing of the first part of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Fang Lin and Xu Kuolao went to see Feng Qingji, the owner of the printing house.

"How can I not give Brother Xu a favor? Brother Fang, you stay here and I'll print it. I'll give you a 10% discount." Feng Qingji said with a smile.

"Lower the price, maybe 20% off!" Xu Kuolao bargained.

"That won't do." Feng Qingji complained, "To be honest, if we take 20% off, the typesetting, machines, ink, workers... after all that, it will be close to cost, and there won't be much profit."

"I also know that the more books this printing house prints, the lower the cost, so it can make small profits but quick turnover. After all, this is an order worth a thousand taels of silver." Fang Lin suddenly said.

"Brother Fang, how much did you just say?" Feng Qingji sat up suddenly, stared at Fang Lin and asked, suspecting that there was something wrong with his ears.

"Master Feng, there is no need to doubt it. What I am talking about is a huge order of one thousand taels of silver!" Fang Lin said affirmatively.

Yes, he was prepared to spend a thousand taels of silver to stock up on goods!

——Of the one thousand taels of silver, he had 300 taels of his own money, 50 taels from Prefect Pu, 100 taels from Dong Zugao, 300 taels from Xu Kuolao, and 300 taels from an interest-free loan. He kept some money for renovating Xuan Mo Zhai, and used the rest to stock up on goods.

Of course, public is public and private is private. There were only 200 taels of silver in the account of the partnership bookstore. Of the remaining 850 taels of silver, 300 taels were borrowed from Xu Kuolao and 550 taels were borrowed from Fang Lin.

To talk about this matter, because of Fang Lin himself and the added value brought by "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Xu Kuo Lao paid a premium of 300 taels to take up 250% of the shares, and Manager Liu paid a premium of % of the shares with a shop value of taels. It was a tael business still. Fang Lin's own taels were not used. He didn't spend a penny, but he got % of the shares. He didn't even open the business, but he made taels of silver for free.

"It's an order worth two thousand and two, so 20% discount is fine." Feng Qingji calculated in his mind that with such a large order, the cost could be reduced a bit, and he could indeed make a lot of money. Especially when Fang Lin said that he would need to print more in the future, he was even more delighted and was very enthusiastic towards Fang Lin, this big customer.

Afterwards, even though Fang Lin and Xu Kuolao said they would send someone to keep an eye on them, Feng Qingji didn't even think twice and agreed immediately, with an attitude of "as long as it can bring benefits, you have the final say."

Say your goodbyes and come out.

"This time the printing is under our supervision, so nothing will go wrong. But in the future, Brother Fang, when you work with this person alone, you must be more careful." Xu Kuo Lao said with narrowed eyes.

"Brother Xu, what do you mean?"

"Feng Qingji is a shrewd businessman." Xu Kuo smacked his lips and said, "Let me put it this way. If you can make him money, you can even let him call you dad. If you can't make money, or if you can bring greater benefits, then..."

"I understand." Fang Lin nodded slightly, understanding what Xu Kuo Lao had not finished. It was nothing more than that Feng Qingji was a profit-oriented person, blinded by money, and had a relatively low moral bottom line. In other words, he was an extremely qualified capitalist. If he was given money, he could sell the rope to hang himself.

"We are keeping a close eye on it this time, so there won't be any unexpected problems. I will have to think carefully when I publish the next book or print the second volume of Romance of the Three Kingdoms," he thought to himself.

……

Feng Qingji's printing house was running at full capacity to print the first part of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Xu Kuolao sent someone to keep an eye on it, taking turns to guard it around the clock to ensure that the first batch of manuscripts would not be leaked.

Here, Fang Lin invited someone to come over and make minor adjustments to Xuan Mo Zhai based on the aesthetic ideas of the store design from his previous life. However, Xuan Mo Zhai was originally a bookstore, so the changes were relatively minor and not too troublesome.

Not to mention Huang Di and Chai Yiwei, Liu Hongwen also came within two days to help out in the store.

Tian Xuan came over to familiarize herself with Xuan Mo Zhai and cook at the same time.

She is not a stingy person. After she came here, the quality of food in the restaurant improved greatly. The coarse salt rice cooked by Liu Ding, the eldest daughter-in-law of the shopkeeper Liu, is gone forever. Compared with Old Lady Liu, her cooking skills are not bad and the portions are larger.

Huang Di and Chai Yiwei were both joking, saying that every day was like New Year's Day now, and it wouldn't take long for people to gain weight.

On this day, taking advantage of Liu Hongwen's first day here, Fang Lin made the salary issue clear and settled it: "Dizi, Yiwei, you still have three taels and eight cents of silver per month, is that ok with that?"

This was the salary they received during the busiest period after Cheng Shiliang left, when there were only three of them in the store.

"Brother Fang, this is inappropriate. It's too much."

"Yes!"

"Don't refuse. If we really want to talk about being busy, when we reopen, it will be no less stressful than when we were the busiest before. I'm going to find someone to come over in the next two days. Please take care of him so that we can share some of the burden in the future."

Fang Lin said, looking at Liu Hongwen: "Brother Liu, you can do my previous job, collecting debts, and then looking for help wherever there is a need. This job is unfair to Brother Liu, how about taking four taels of silver first?"

"Okay." Liu Hongwen lowered his head, avoiding Fang Lin's gaze with some guilt, and thought to himself: "Dad is right. No matter how I treated Fang Lin before, my family is down and out now. I work for him, and he hasn't treated me badly... As expected, Dad's vision of people is beyond my reach."

He thought of Hong Yingheng again and sighed in his heart.

"Brother Liu, Manager Liu exchanged the store for a 10% stake, but it was also written in the deed that one can withdraw at any time and get back the three hundred taels of silver..." Fang Lin explained the matter to make it clear that he was not taking advantage of the situation.

"I know about this. I heard it from my father. I will listen to him. Don't worry, no matter how good the business is in the future, I won't be jealous or anything." After experiencing the incident with Hong Yingheng, Liu Hongwen was indeed discouraged. After Manager Liu went back and told him about this, he believed in Manager Liu's vision. Besides, there was an exit mechanism, so he didn't have to worry about anything.

"It seems that not only Liu Hongwen, but also Manager Liu has learned a lesson from the incident with Hong Yingheng and has eliminated this hidden danger for me in advance."

Fang Lin felt that compared to the arrogant Liu Hongwen in the past, the current Liu Hongwen was more comfortable to get along with: "What Brother Liu said was true. I trust him. The incident with Hong Yingheng is in the past. We still have to look forward. After all, everyone makes mistakes. Every failure makes us wiser. If you really can't let it go, wait until you get busy in a few days and then you won't have time to think about those things." He saw that Liu Hongwen not only lost his arrogance, but also some of his spirit. Today he worked silently without saying a word, and didn't say a word unless asked.

Liu Hongwen could naturally tell that Fang Lin was speaking from the heart. Thinking of his previous condescending attitude towards Fang Lin, he felt guilty and apologized, "Fang Lin, I used to..."

"What happened in the past is in the past, and I don't take it to heart. We will work together in the future. Let's work together to become bigger and stronger and create brilliance."

Fang Lin said this, looked at Huang Di and Chai Yiwei, and said something else: "I am not just talking nonsense. From now on, the store will take out three percent of the profits every month as a reward..."

Three percent profit, that is, 3% profit, is not too much, but not too little either, and it can be considered an incentive.

"Brother Fang, the wages are already high enough, you will lose out if you get this reward."

"That's right, Linzi. We know you value friendship, but business is business, and it's not easy for you either." Huang Di also advised. Although he liked money, he was not blinded by it. He wanted to work here for a long time.

"I know what's going on. I've thought carefully about the wages and rewards... Don't worry, I'm not running a charity, so just take it! At the same time, there will be no order without rules. The rules and regulations will also be strictly enforced, and there will be no mercy in this regard." Fang Lin said with a serious look.

The system he mentioned was something that was established with reference to the corporate management in the previous life. In fact, this had basically been achieved when Manager Liu was there. Now it was just explicitly stipulated to form a system to facilitate the establishment of a chain of bookstores in the future.

At the same time, it is also to make things clear. High wages and high benefits correspond to higher requirements. I have to be frank in advance. If there really is... it will not be considered merciless or punishing without teaching.

Huang Di knew the importance of the matter, and assured him earnestly: "Lin... Shopkeeper, rest assured, we will clean and count in the morning and evening, be warm and smiling to the guests... We did this before, I know."

"Brother Fang, don't worry, I will do my best."

"Me too."

"Of course I trust you. We are old acquaintances. At work, we are very strict and just do what we should do. Outside of work, we just get along with each other as before. It doesn't mean that now that I'm the shopkeeper, I can look down on others with my nose in my mouth." Fang Lin said self-deprecatingly.

"Haha!" Huang Di and Chai Yiwei laughed out loud after hearing this. Liu Hongwen was also infected by this atmosphere, and he felt a little lighter and his confidence was boosted.

……

Book Pavilion.

"Xuan Mo Zhai was actually snatched away? It's a time-honored bookstore with a good location and a nice shop. All it needs is a best-selling popular novel to attract old customers back... Now someone has gotten there first, what a pity!" Hong Yingheng sighed.

He set up a trap to trick Liu Hongwen. Actually, he also had his own plan. He was going to buy Xuan Mo Zhai when it was down and out. However, he found out during the past two days that Xuan Mo Zhai had been sold to another company.

"Forget it, let's put this matter aside for now."

Hong Yingheng felt it was a pity, but didn't think of doing anything immediately.

He is a cautious person and will not take action until he has figured out the other person's character. For example, he would only set up a trap for Liu Hongwen after getting close to him and getting to the bottom of the matter. He would not make enemies unless he was sure enough.

"The bookstore business is not that easy to run. You need experience in management, otherwise you will fall into many traps. Not only that, but you also need to manage relationships, both legal and illegal... How can a novice handle all these things? Just watch them fail on their own."

Hong Yingheng had no time to get to know Fang Lin and set up a trap to deal with him, because he realized that the market was hungry and that popular novels of average quality could make a lot of money, so he hurried to find Zhong Zongdian who was in seclusion.

When he went to look for him this time, he was shocked to see Zhong Zongdian with untidy beard and dark eye sockets, "How did Brother Zhong become like this?"

"I've just been working day and night to write this book. Let's not talk about this... This book represents all my hard work. Come on, Manager Hong, take a look!" Although Zhong Zongdian looked like this, he was in good spirits and couldn't wait to hand over the manuscript.

"Then I'll take a closer look."

Hong Yingheng took the book "The Popular Romance of the Restoration of the Song Dynasty" with great anticipation. After reading it, he clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Great, great!"

He is the owner of a bookstore, so he naturally has a good vision. Although this book contains many excerpts from history, and even copies of Yue Fei's memorials, inscriptions, manifestos, letters, and lyrics, which may be suspected of padding, and the literary creation part is relatively small, what is the current situation?
Popular novels have just been liberalized, and some crudely made short stories that are labeled as "popular novels" are selling well. The quality of "The Popular Romance of the Song Dynasty's Restoration" is obviously a step above other novels on the market, and I think it will create a craze after it goes on sale.

"The treatment is just as I mentioned before, fifty taels of silver as royalties, and I will take out another two hundred, three hundred... no, five hundred taels of silver for printing and stockpiling. From the first batch of sales, I will give Brother Zhong ten percent of the profit." Seeing Zhong Zongdian's talent, Hong Yingheng offered this treatment in order to bind Zhong Zongdian deeply.

"it is good."

Zhong Zongdian agreed, but then hesitated again and said, "Although I'm at home, I've heard that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very popular in the city recently."

"That's true, but don't worry too much, brother. The market is hungry, how can a single "Popular Novel" satisfy it? In my opinion, the market can accommodate the coexistence of multiple popular novels."

Hong Yingheng thought for a moment and said, "Well, I heard that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms will be released in August, so let's set the date on August 1st. If the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not good, we can use it to become famous; if it is good, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms will create a trend, and readers will not be satisfied after reading it, and will want to read other things, and we can also get a piece of the pie."

He learned it on his own and figured out a way to ride on the popularity.

"That makes sense." Zhong Zongdian believed that no matter how good "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was, the quality of his own "Popular Romance of the Song Dynasty Restoration" would not be much different. Since the other party's sales were hot, his own "Popular Romance of the Song Dynasty Restoration" would probably be promoted as well and he could make some money.

……

(End of this chapter)